by Cody Loewen
Chapter 18
We walk along the main road, the distance between us and the Peak of Storms growing with each step. We walk side by side, but I dictate the direction, compelled by the gem toward whatever or whoever our first target may be. Exhausted from our trek up the mountain and the excitement of meeting the dragon, Valerius, and retrieving the gem, we need to stop and rest, but the gem’s insistence keeps us moving forward. Finally, unable to put another foot in front of the other, I give in to my body’s demands for rest. We find shelter in the rocks, and Rayfe heads out to scavenge for food while I secure the area and gather wood for a fire. A belly full of rabbit and a toasty fire make it impossible to stay away any longer, and we both crash into a deep, dreamless slumber.
I wake to the pre-dawn pink sky, unsure of what has called me from my much needed sleep. until my eyes land on my sword and the sparkling gem now gracing its hilt. Now that I know how it feels, the gem’s silent message it clear. Our destiny lies in front of us. I rouse Rayfe, and after a quick breakfast of leftover rabbit, we take to the path once more, winding our way further south. I know we likely won’t meet any other travelers on the road or find a settlement for several more days, but after two more nights sleeping on the hard ground and scrounging for food, I can’t help but hope with every hill we climb that we will find an inn on the other side. My stomach growls loudly, reminding me that the berries we had for lunch are long gone, and I subconsciously walk a little faster, eager to sit down in front of a hot meal.
As the sun begins its journey below the horizon, I sigh. Another night sleeping on the ground with my growling stomach to keep me company. We decide to camp over the next rise, so when a squat little building comes into view as we head down into the valley, it almost doesn’t seem real.
As we get closer, and I can make out the small signpost marking it as an inn, I almost break out into dance. Finally, a hot meal and a bed! The building is just one story tall, but stretches out across the ground, providing ample space for the rooms within. Constructed from chiseled and stacked rocks, the owners have obviously chosen the building materials from the abundance of rocks present on the hard terrain. The spaces in between these rocks has been filled with some kind of mud-based paste, with a roof made of wooden timbers. We reach the front door, a simple rectangle made from wooden slats, and we push our way into the main room of the inn.
A warm, crackling fire greets us, and my nostrils are overwhelmed by the smell of meat cooking, causing my stomach to release another mighty growl. With the lack of civilization in the surrounding area, the need for accommodations for a large number of people isn’t necessary. There appear to only be two people working the inn, a middle-aged man and a woman, who Rayfe assumes is the man’s wife. The man tends the meat roasting over the fire, which appears to be bird, turning it before it begins to burn. The woman moves around the main room, sweeping the floor and wiping down tables. She strides across the room with a mug of frothy yellow liquid and deposits it on a table against the wall opposite the fire to the third person in the room, who must be the only other patron.
Wearing simple traveling clothes, hair cropped short, the only distinguishing feature is his long, thick beard that stretches down to his chest. He graciously accepts the mug of liquid, taking a long drink before setting it down on the table and leaning back in his chair. He looks over at us, and nods in greeting, before refocusing his attention on the fire. Seeing us waiting by the door, the woman greets us, a warm smile spread across her face.
“Welcome, you two!” she says, her eyes moving between Rayfe and me. “Take a seat wherever you like, and I will bring out a couple of ales. The first round is free. Food, extra drink or a room requires a little coin.”
“Thank you!” Rayfe replies with a smile. We move toward the fire, choosing a table near the flames, and I let out a sigh of relief when I sit, my legs aching from the long journey here. I hesitate as we move past the bearded man, waiting to see if the gem in my sword will react somehow to his presence. I am not sure what I am looking for exactly, but when nothing happens, I allow myself to relax.
“Thank goodness for the generosity of our fellow travelers, who provided us with enough coin for a hot meal and soft bed tonight,” he exclaims to me with a huge grin on his face. I can’t help but let out a laugh that carries across the room, drawing the attention of the bearded man for a moment before he returns to his drink. My face flushes red from the outburst, but the smile never leaves my face, as I think back to the highwaymen that we obtained said coin from.
“I don’t care where the money came from,” I reply. “As long as it gets me a piece of that bird, its good enough for me. I could eat that whole thing myself.”
He nods in agreement, and our stomachs growl in unison as we sit and relax, drawing a chuckle from both of us. The woman returns quickly with two mugs of the same liquid she handed the other man, setting one in front of each of us. Rayfe asks her how much a meal and a room for the night would cost and counts out the appropriate sum and hands it to her, returning the remaining copper coins to his pouch.
I pick up the mug of ale, unsure of what to expect from the drink. I give it a sniff, and an earthy, bitter aroma fills my nose. Rayfe picks up his own drink and takes a sip, his face tightening as he swallows. I do the same, raising the mug to my lips and filling my mouth with the bitter yellow liquid. I swallow and immediately let out a series of coughs, the drink burning its way down my throat. Once I regain myself and recover from the coughing fit, I notice Rayfe grinning at me.
“What is that?” I exclaim, setting the mug back down on the table. The bitter taste lingers on my tongue, and I realize I don’t mind the actual taste once I got past that horrible burning sensation.
“First time trying ale?” he asks me, the grin never leaving his face. “This stuff sure makes for a fun first experience. Ale isn’t my favorite anyway, but this stuff is lower quality than most. But what can you expect from a tiny little inn out in the middle of nowhere? Just don’t drink too much, it will make for a miserable day of traveling tomorrow if you do.”
Not knowing how much is too much, I tell myself not to drink any more than he does and cautiously try to take another sip. I am able to resist the urge to cough, and it goes down a little easier than last time, but the burn is still there. Before long, the innkeeper comes to our table with two plates piled with food. Slices of the cooked bird dominate the plate and are surrounded by various vegetables. A whole cooked potato sits next to a pile of leafy lettuce, and a single carrot the length of my forearm tops it off. I ravenously dig in, using the fork on the plate to shovel the food into my mouth, barely stopping to chew before going for another bite. I don’t sit back in my chair until my plate is empty and I am finally satisfied. My waist feels like it is going to explode, but the hunger is finally satiated.
With a full stomach, my eyes feel heavy, and the strain on my body from days of walking hits me all at once. I let Rayfe know that I am going to retire to our room for the night, and he gets up with me, feeling the same way. I fall asleep the minute my head hits the pillow, no stomach growls to keep me away.
As we walk out the front door of the inn the next morning, I focus once again on the ruby and my steps suddenly feel like they are filled with more purpose, my path clearer in front of me. As the day progresses, the urging in my head becomes more persistent and stronger. When I tell Rayfe this, he guesses that we might be getting close to whatever we are hunting. Prompted by the thrum in my head, we leave the main road, taking a small rocky trail off to the side, and the smoke from a fire rises in the distance in front of us.
“That has to be our target,” I inform Rayfe, the call in my head leaving no doubt which direction we should be going. “What do you think it is?”
“It could be anything,” Rayfe answers with a shrug as we walk. “Valerius said that we will be eliminating evil of every caliber, so it could be something terrible, or much more ordinary. We will just have to wait and find out, I guess.
Lead on mighty, Lykara, saver of worlds.”
He says the last part with a flourish of his arms in my direction and spins around flamboyantly, causing me to trip on a rock in the path, barely catching myself before I fall to the ground. He laughs loudly at my misfortune, and I punch him in the shoulder in response, which just causes him to laugh harder.
We quiet down as we approach the fire ahead of us, unsure of what we will find. My imagination wanders to all sorts of creatures that we could face, from terrible winged beasts, to demons, or other monsters. Eventually, we come within eyesight of the camp, and duck behind the rocks so as not to be seen. Contrary to what my imagination had conjured up for this first fight with the evil we have been tasked with defeating, we stare into a small group of ordinary men. I see five men sitting around their campfire, cooking something, drinking and talking loudly, unaware of our prying eyes. A sixth man keeps watch on the perimeter a short distance away.
Rayfe and I share a look at the ordinary scene in front of us.
“How do we know they are evil?” I ask Rayfe. I’m not willing to just go in with our swords drawn, putting blind faith in a gem that I have never used before. “They look like regular travelers to me.”
“Let’s just wait and watch for a bit,” Rayfe answers, looking back into the camp. There isn’t a good place for us to get any closer without being seen, but the men talk fairly loudly, and if I focus hard, I can make out most of what they say. I begin to listen to the conversation, trying to hear any clues as to why the gem would have led us here.
“Hurry up with that cookin’!” A man with a short black beard yells at one of his companions who appears to be tending their meal. “I’m starving!”
“It’ll be ready when its ready!” the cook answers back. “Good food don’t make itself.”
“Like you’d be able to make good food on your own, ya idiot,” A third man interjects into the conversation. He is rotund with long, greasy blonde hair. “Lucky they had food with them, or we’d still be eating those burnt rats you love to make!”
The cook of the group lets out a growl and throws a handful of dirt and rocks at the two of his harassers before returning to his work. Rayfe and I share a look, confused by the scene in front of us. He gestures for me to return my attention to them, to listen for any clues to help decipher this puzzle.
“Lucky for us you mean. Not so lucky for them!”
The entire group breaks into laughter at that comment. I’m starting to assume that he is the makeshift leader of this little band of men.
“To us!” The man yells again, raising his cup in the air. The rest of the group follows suit, yelling in agreement. “And to the sorry bastards who crossed our path, may the crows feast on their corpses!”
The group breaks into obnoxious laughter once again, spilling liquid out of their cups and down their faces as they drink in cheers. I draw my sword, having heard plenty to justify my actions. As my intentions become clear, a rage washes over me toward the men and their disregard for the dead. and I charge into the camp with my sword drawn. Rayfe tries to quietly get my attention, but I pay him no mind in my wild rush. The seated men don’t process that they are under attack until I am upon them, and I cut down the leader of the group where he sits. I spin around and launch a horizontal swipe into the second man, spilling his intestines onto the ground. Without slowing, I stop the momentum of my sword, reversing its motion into an overhead chop that cuts right through the next murderer, dropping him in his place.
By this time, Rayfe has joined the fight and meets the sentry, who charges back into the camp, jagged sword leading the way. I pay the two of them no more attention and square off with the remaining two men, who have gained enough composure to draw weapons and face me. The man on my left wields a long knife, while the other holds a woodcutting axe. Without thinking, I swing at the man with the knife, who barely avoids the strike, unable to block the blow with his much smaller weapon. I chop down at his head with a second strike but am forced to pull the blow and jump to the side to avoid a swing of the other man’s axe. He raises the axe above his head for another chop, and I quickly stick my sword in his gut, dropping him to the ground. I turn back to the fifth man, who turns as if to run away. He slips on a rock and falls to his hands and knees, and I stab my sword down into the middle of his back, feeling it release out of his chest. His arms give out and he falls the rest of the way to the ground, already dead.
With the fight, if it can even be called that, over, my rage dissipates, and I broaden my focus to my surroundings. Rayfe stands beside me, with a concerned look on his face, having dispatched his opponent on the edge of the camp. As I gasp for air, the effort of the fight suddenly becomes clear to me as the adrenaline fades. I look at the ground around me, the four corpses of my victims strewn about haphazardly. A moment of shame comes over me at the sight, and the blind rage I experienced toward the group of men. But I remember what they said right before my charge and all sense of remorse flies from me.
These men were truly evil. It needed to be done before they hurt somebody else.
I feel a heat building in my hand, startling me out of my own thoughts. I look down at my sword and gasp when I see the ruby in its pommel, glowing brightly, a pulsating red light, glowing brighter as the sword burns hotter. I try to open my fingers to let the sword drop to the ground, but my hand won’t obey my command. My grip on the handle doesn’t even loosen as the light and the heat builds. Panicked, I shake my arm to try to knock the sword loose, scared of being burned, to no avail. All of a sudden, the light begins to dim, taking the heat with it, until the gem has returned to its normal appearance within the pommel.
I slide it back onto my belt and look up to find Rayfe standing beside me, also staring down at the sword, a confused look on his face.
“Well, do you feel any different?” he asks. I think for a moment, trying to gauge the changes that came with the spectacle.
“No,” I answer him. “I don’t feel any different. Maybe it doesn’t work?”
“That light show had to have some magic in it at least,” he says. “I think we need to move on. Maybe it takes a while for you to notice anything.”
I nod in agreement, no other options coming to mind as we stand there. Valerius did tell us that it would take close to ten years to build enough power in the ruby to be able to face Kromm, so it may just take some time before I notice any difference. We gather any useful items from the camp but leave the cooking food alone. Neither one of us can stomach eating the meat after hearing what was done by the previous residents of the camp to obtain it. Rayfe finds a simple bow and a quiver half full of arrows to replace the one he lost on the mountain. Not the quality he is used to, but it will have to do until he has the opportunity to get a better one. He slings it over his shoulder, and we leave the area as quickly as we can, on the move once more.
We travel for many days, leaving the rocky, jagged terrain behind as we move southeast. The land starts to look more like what I am used to, with grassy fields and simple villages passing by as we walk. We sleep under the open sky when we need to, and inside inns and other structures when we can. The journey is easy, the gem leading us toward our next target, and we talk easily as the miles pass under our feet. We discuss our expectations for our years of battling evil together, where it will take us, and the things we will have to fight along the way.
With my limited knowledge of the world around us and the creatures that inhabit it, I ask Rayfe to teach me what he knows, and he obliges. He describes different creatures living all around the world that he has read about in the library back home. He talks about wondrous cities, mystical forests, and deep caves containing all sorts of mysterious inhabitants. I soak in as much information as I can, both out of curiosity’s sake, and in preparation for whatever I may need to know on our journey.
With the day full of traveling, we take time at night to hone our fighting skills, staying in shape physically and mentally for whatever challenges presen
t themselves ahead. We spar, fighting each day, and I start to feel as if the difference in skill level between the two of us is shrinking as I practice and train. Rayfe suggests that I use a different form of my weapon in each of our nightly fights to build proficiency in new techniques, expanding my abilities in combat to face any foe, while allowing him to face off against many different types of attackers, and I whole-heartedly agree.
“Do you think we will be fighting more humans next?” I ask Rayfe as we walk on a wide, smooth road, flanked on either side by flat grassy plains that seem to stretch on forever. The sky is clear overhead, and birds are flying above us in small groups, their calls filling the air. The grass rustles in the wind, a constant, subtle drone on either side of us.
“Maybe we will find a giant winged demon next,” Rayfe jokes with a wide grin on his face. I laugh at the joke, my mood light from the easy travel with him. “Just kidding, that would be too good to be true. I don’t think we will find anything nearly that exciting.”
I shake my head, just imagining coming upon a beast like that, and trying to fight it.
“Well, whatever it is, I just hope they are as bad as those last bandits were,” I say to him as we walk. “Those men truly were evil and killing them definitely made the world a brighter place, even if just a little bit.”
“I hope so too,” Rayfe answers, slightly more serious. “If it stays that black and white with this whole evil and good thing, these next ten years are going to be a breeze.”
We come over a small hill on the road, and a little farming community pops into view in front of us. The road leads straight into the center of a cluster of simple houses, with fields of cultivated crops spread out around the outside in a large half circle. The sight reminds me of my village and the small plot of farmed land we grew behind our own home. These fields, however, are much larger and stretch far past the distance I can see from where we stand.
